We often get asked the question whether our ice cider is a wine or a cider. Ice cider seems to be an anomaly to a lot of people since it’s not carbonated and therefore doesn’t fit the general idea of what cider should be and therefore could be if we let our imagination free.
Cider in general is associated with beer brewing rather than with wine making when in fact the production of serious cider doesn’t differ at all from wine making. The apples are harvested once a year (vintage), crushed and pressed and the juice fermented. When people visit our cidery they are amazed that it is so similar to the wineries they’ve visited.
So, I usually turn the question around. Think about wine. Wine comes in many shapes, red dry, white dry, sparkling dry, demi sec (half dry) whites, sweet white, red wines, icewine and so on. I’ve yet to talk to a consumer who questions the many different styles of wine .
Wine is defined as an alcoholic drink made from freshly gathered grapes. And so it is with cider. To me the word ‘cider’ defines a wine made from 100% apple juice (from pressed apples) rather than grapes. That’s it.
Because of industrialisation, the lines are a little blurred to the majority of consumers (and some producers) on how to define a cider.
And if you think about it that way, it all becomes a lot more understandable. As wines made from grapes wine in many different guises then so does cider. Sparkling cider, still cider, dry cider, medium dry and sweet cider – even Ice cider,
So, the answer really is simple. Cider is wine made with apple juice rather than grape juice. In Germany still cider is called Apfelwein, which is a great descriptive word for what you’re getting.
From our point of view the debate over what cider is and should be is sometimes amusing and sometimes exhausting and frustrating. It’s so simple and yet seems so hard to grasp for professionals as well as consumers.
Before we’d established ice cider as an actual thing in Sweden (because there is no definition of ice cider in Europe) we would answer questions on an almost daily basis in regards to what flavours our cider came in. “Apple” we would answer, which would be met by repeat questions and incredulity.
To most people the idea that cider only tasted of apple was hard to understand, the market flooded with cider that had a minimum amount of fermented apple juice added as an after thought, mostly made up of carbonated water, colourings, flavourings and stabilisers.
Imagine wine being sold with flavours, colouring and corrections that didn’t originate with the grapes themselves? Oops, again some are, but they’re still defined as wines.
A large part of the wine producing community wouldn’t dream of doing that to their product though. Partly because it’s not necessary and partly because there are laws in place that ensure a quality definition. A well made, honest wine, regardless of price tag speaks for itself. It doesn’t need “enhancement”. Being a producer of grape wine, in Europe or anywhere, comes with a big set of challenges for sure but that doesn’t mean that there is a broad consensus among producers to completely alter the product that comes out of the winery in order to be able to sell it. We haven’t yet been able to achieve that for cider producers.
The Fight for REAL Cider
There are excellent cider making examples. Standard bearers like Eric Bordelet, demonstrate what kind of product can be presented when cider production is taken seriously. However a large part of the cider producing community currently has to be content with less than great.
The unwillingness to stick to higher goals than “good enough” has commercial repercussions. In Europe, in spite of there being some great producers, there is still no distinction when it comes to different level qualities within the cider segment. Industrially produced “ciders” that are mixed products with very little apple juice content are sold on the same shelf as premium ciders that are produced as meticulously as wines (and at the same cost for the producer).
Because consumers have few cider benchmarks apart from price they often select the less expensive industrial cider. On the odd occasion that they select the quality produced craft cider they can be disappointed that it doesn’t live up to their expectations and yet costs as much as a bottle of wine.
This also shapes the channel through which cider is sold with most going through the beer channel and so shaping the products sold through it. Some forward thinking, ambitious, wine distributors and retailers stock great ciders and promote and discuss their quality. However there are still too few producers that correspond to good wine retailers standards of quality and it’s hard to shape a shelf with a decent range of premium ciders thus creating long term markets.
As an Ice Cider we have faced these challenges, often being placed on shelves of ‘fruit wine’ as opposed to the dessert wine. Brannland’s aspirations are to appeal to a gourmet market ,which matches cider with food. Tasted with a strong blue cheese, Roquefort or Stilton for example is an experience that most foodies will not just want to repeat but share and discuss with their friends and associates.
In the post-consumption era, where most consumers are concerned with consuming less and having a higher quality experience then we take education of both trade and drinker alike seriously. Of course we are not here to put volume cider makers out of business, but to raise the awareness of quality in cider making so that we can contribute to a prosperous more fulfilling experience for the cider category.
There are cideries that walk a fine line between straight up fermented apple juice and products that include other components as well and do it well, without compromising quality and honesty. Following the pattern of the craft beer boom the good examples will draw people into learning more about cider and form new opinions of what constitutes “real” cider, graduating as consumers.
So, to move the perception of what cider is, to change the image of cider as something that can be held to the same standard as great wines, the cider producing community needs to hold itself to a higher standard and dare to present products that have been made with the same attention to detail and pride that serious wine producers take for granted.
Eventually we hope that the discussion of different styles of cider will add to the culture and quality of our lives as much as the wine category. Great cider of course will hold it’s own category. In the mean time Brännland Cider will keep claiming that good cider is, in fact, wine and hold ourselves to that standard.
Alistair Morrell, Hospitality & Catering News, Wine & Drinks Editor:
As consumers look for higher quality from the drinks category, we surely must support any producers who seek to develop quality where little existed previously. Brannland’s ‘White Paper’ forms a clear vision for the category which has two strands – Education and regulatory.
Firstly the education of consumers and trade sets and begins to describe what ‘quality’ in the category might look like, going on to impress a more formalised structure so that this quality can be recognised and developed with innovation and more exciting consumer propositions as the quality cider market develops.
Andreas makes reference to surprise when consumers are told that this cider is made from apples, it would be great to see this reaction turned on its head – surprise that it is not made from apples!’
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Andreas Sundgren Graniti, Brännland Cider – Twitter